Washington seeks bigger role in 2020 campaign

OLYMPIA, Wash. — There's a move in Olympia to make Washington State a bigger player in the 2020 presidential race. It involves moving the presidential primary months earlier in the year, when the race is still likely to undecided.

In March 2016, Washington State Democrats slogged through day and night-long caucuses to select delegates to the presidential convention. And there were many complaints, “You have to be at a certain location, at a certain day, on a certain hour down to the minute and if you are not there your vote does not count,” said presidential primary advocate Steve Zemke.

And by the time voters cast their ballots in Washington's traditional May primary, the nomination had been all but decided.

But 2020 could begin with upwards of 30 Democrats in the presidential race. And of them could be Washington's own Gov. Jay Inslee.

So today the Senate Government committee held the first hearing on proposals to move Washington's primary day to a more influential second Tuesday in March.

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“The candidates are certainly going to care about Washington, they're going to want to come here they're going to want to compete for votes here so it's going to be exciting I think,” said Andrew Villeneuve of the state Democratic Central Committee.

In Secretary of State Wyman's proposal, everyone can vote without choosing a party, “There are a lot of people who are unaffiliated, who don't consider themselves Republicans, don't consider themselves Democrats who want to vote in a presidential primary and we should give them that option,” said state Sen. Hans Ziegler of Puyallup.

However, national Democratic rules require that only people willing to affiliate as Democrats should have a hand in choosing the Democratic candidate.

“If you want to have a voice in the party's nominating process then you actually have to participate in a sanctioned event that the party's holding otherwise your vote doesn't count,” Villeneuve said.

Cox Media Group